Welcome

Welcome to the POZ/AIDSmeds Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and
others concerned about HIV/AIDS. Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the
conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning: Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive
and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a
username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own
physician.

All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators
of these forums. Click here for “Am I Infected?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ/AIDSmeds community forums.

We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please
provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are
true and correct to their knowledge.

I spent a few months on sleeping pills due to over-whelming stress created by doctor. I was so stressed that after six months of not sleeping, my insomnia progressed to sleep walking!To help me sleep after thngs got really bad, I was givenTemazepam in 30 mg. strength. That did the trck, but after six months of being on Temazepam, I got addicted and couldn't sleep without them. After getting irid of my doctor of 26 years, I spent 3 months weening myself off of them. They work well, but they are highly addictive so use them for short-term....

I spent a few months on sleeping pills due to over-whelming stress created by doctor. I was so stressed that after six months of not sleeping, my insomnia progressed to sleep walking!To help me sleep after thngs got really bad, I was givenTemazepam in 30 mg. strength. That did the trck, but after six months of being on Temazepam, I got addicted and couldn't sleep without them. After getting irid of my doctor of 26 years, I spent 3 months weening myself off of them. They work well, but they are highly addictive so use them for short-term....

Restorilô (temazepam) is indicated for the short-term treatment of insomnia (generally 7 to 10 days).

I guess you would have an addiction problem from taking them for 6 months. Restoril is a controlled substance in Schedule IV. You had your hands full.

I have extreme difficulty falling asleep because of major anxiety issues: If I'm not busy doing something--even if it's just reading, TV, or computer--my mind will not stop racing. Once asleep, however, it takes a small bomb to wake me, which is why I sometimes use 3 alarm clocks. Finding the remedy that works is as difficult as finding the right anti-depressive medication and is wildly variable with each individual. I've tried everything already discussed. Valium worked well for a while, but I was definitely becoming benzo-addictive; I also took it as a muscle-relaxant for back pain and for panic attacks. Ambien worked for a while and then became useless. Lunesta did absolutely nothing--except leave me with the taste of a metal subway car filled with rats. Melatonin did absolutely nothing. Etc. Etc. Psychiatrist then suggested using an "atypical anti-psychotic" and prescribed 100mg Seroquel. Bingo! The only problem was that I had even more difficulty waking and would sometimes sleep for 10 hours or more, but I didn't spend hours tossing and turning trying to fall asleep. The magic remedy was 50mg Seroquel. Has worked like a charm for several years now.

Logged

"No one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences."--Albert Camus, "The Plague"

"Mankind can never be free until the last brick in the last church falls on the head of the last priest."--Voltaire

It is true that Temazapam can be addictive. Nonetheless, it has done the trick for me over the years and I would characterize it as a "mild" sleeping pill. I don't "oversleep" and feel pretty good in the morning. With all the other meds racing through my body over the years (Crixivan was the worst) and a formerly very stressful job, getting a reliable good night's sleep was (is) very important to me to function well.

After starting my atripla started having nightmares and vivid dreams. Doctor gives me 30mg temazepam. I also take 2 tylenol pm if i wake up during the night take a xanex. The atripla is making my cholesterol go up and blood sugar. had to give up all sweets she wants me to give up rice bread potatoes red meat pork. i am down to a piece of turkey or chicken

After starting my atripla started having nightmares and vivid dreams. Doctor gives me 30mg temazepam. I also take 2 tylenol pm if i wake up during the night take a xanex. The atripla is making my cholesterol go up and blood sugar. had to give up all sweets she wants me to give up rice bread potatoes red meat pork. i am down to a piece of turkey or chicken

Honestly this seems horribly excessive. With all of the other options in terms of HIV med regimens out there why is your doctor not considering your quality of life and discussing treatment alternatives? Have you asked her to consider this?

She would like for Me to not take anything. No sleeping meds or tylenol pm. I try but just lie there. I never dreamed before the meds so need something to make me sleep because of the dreams and nightmares. i do not want to change my meds since it is keeping my vl down and t-cells at 250

In the beginning of meds i had to do pentamidine ivs then breathing treatment than left me feeling like i could not breath. I was tested and told i have asthma. I have started meds for that so maybe that was why i am having trouble sleeping. I am working on my sleeping now. I do not think asthma gives You bad dreams tho.

In the beginning of meds i had to do pentamidine ivs then breathing treatment than left me feeling like i could not breath. I was tested and told i have asthma. I have started meds for that so maybe that was why i am having trouble sleeping. I am working on my sleeping now. I do not think asthma gives You bad dreams tho.

Have you considered joining a Gym or doing some (aerobic-work-outs) in the late eve, that might help you fall-asleep. another thing to try is, not to eat anything after 8PM or 9PM, I have found, that if I do, it's worse....I've been doing the work-outs for the last 6 1/2 yrs now, and I sleep VERY WELL every-other-night, and I don't take any sleep-meds , also, I get up early about 6AM to 7AM, so, buy 10PM that night, I'm out-of-it, and can fall asleep faster, after I take my night-time-meds.......the trick here is to get your body back into it's Natural Rhythm, (during the day-part) once you do that, come-night fall, you'll sleep like a baby

« Last Edit: February 27, 2009, 11:06:47 AM by denb45 »

Logged

"it's so nice to be insane, cause no-one ask you to explain" Helen Reddy cc 1974

My doc has tried every type of sleep aid and they all had the exact opposite of what they were supposed to do...I was almost crawling the walls! It felt like my legs had just finished running a marathon and my eyes were about to pop out of my head!! It was a horrible feelingAfter a 6 month nightmare bout with Sustiva (one of the 1% who had psychotic reaction to it) I was perscribed many anti depressants, anti psychotics and anti anxiety medications. After two years of experimenting with all of them, I slowly stopped taking them with the exception of Xanax which I have been on for over 6 years now.I now take either 2 or 3 1mg tab about an hour before bed. I lay down and the minute my head hits the pillow I am out for about 6 hours at which time I wake up feeling like a truck has hit me...(posted about this in side effects and treatment). Now that I am on a new combo of Intress, Intelence and Epzicom it seems an hour after I take them I feel very drowsy...almost enough to go to sleep. So now I am down to 2 1mg tabs of Xanax and I sleep very well. Although I was initially told that this was not going to be a long term drug, my doc sees it as the only thing that helps me so he continues to prescribe it regardless of an addicition to it. I could care less now about dependence issues as if it works for me, to hell with the rest of the story!!Xanax rocks!!!

Never used a sleeping aid. Thats not to say something may have have to be used in the future. Usually when I go to bed, I fall to sleep very quickly and remain alsleep for at least 8 hours. When I went onto the 11:00pm to 7:00am shift 14 years ago, I needed a little melatonin, to help me get to sleep, but I only used it briefly, and never had to use it again.

Since I started on Atripla I've had nothing but trouble with sleeping. I tried a few different sleeping pills and I would sleep but not feel rested in the morning. Now I smoke (vaporize) a little MMJ at night and most nights I sleep and don't get nightmares.

Since I started on Atripla I've had nothing but trouble with sleeping. I tried a few different sleeping pills and I would sleep but not feel rested in the morning. Now I smoke (vaporize) a little MMJ at night and most nights I sleep and don't get nightmares.

I must confess tho, at least 2 to 3 nights outta a month, when I can't sleep, I do grab the old bottle of BENZO, so, I digress, my ID Doc say that's fine, and it won't hurt me, as long as I don't take it every nightit still works wonders for my P.T.S.D...when I have an episode

I was going to start a new, but I'll add to this thread. I have a situation where I work nights, 12 hour shift, 3 nights a week 6pm-6am, for 20 years now. I have a terrible time getting good sleep during the day. Mostly due to keeping a constant sleep schedule between work days - off days. When my work week comes around, its hard to get more than a few hours sleep during the day and Im a zombie most all night long.

I've tried over the counter sleep aids like Melatonin, Benedryl, and Tylenol PM and the problem is they are not dependable and all of them linger, so I feel worse at work. Just a month ago I went into this with my GP doctor and he gave me (ZOLPIDEM) or AMBIEN as it is known. It worked great at really knocking me out within 15 min, and I stayed asleep and woke with no linger zombie effects.That was for a few weeks, only taking it 3 times a week during my work schedule.What started happening was, #1 ZOLPIDEM-AMBIEN started to wear off sooner and sooner so I was waking up full alert too early before I needed to. #2, on my first non work day after have taking ZOLPIDEM-AMBIEN for 3 days in a row, when I did not take it I could not sleep at all. it was like I had drank 10 cups of coffee (btw, I never drink coffee or caffeine products). So sleeping when not taking ZOLPIDEM-AMBIEN was really a problem.

So I guess Im saying I'm pretty much ready to move onto something else away from ZOLPIDEM-AMBIEN.I'm going to call the doc and see what he might suggest to replace the ZOLPIDEM-AMBIEN.

Any input as to what to ask for would be welcome. ZOLPIDEM-AMBIEN is or seems to be pretty powerful in that it can really knock you out, but as time goes on it alters your over all sleeping habits. I was also starting o feel weird dizzy from time to time at night at work and wondered if it was the ZOLPIDEM-AMBIEN?

BTW, Im on sustiva and epzicom as a med combo. But I've always had sleep issues sleeping days while working these long 12 hour nights, even before hiv+. Now its a lot worse. I think I might ask to try Lunesta, that Peter mentioned in the start of this thread.But any ideas would be welcome, or advice from other AMBIEN users.

10 years ago I started on Ambien to help with insomnia. It worked wonders for years. In the last couple of years I switched to Ambien CR. It helped when i had nights that I would awaken early and could not go to sleep.I also have restless leg syndrome that keeps me awake at night. So I also take Requip to relax the leg movements. I did very good for a while .

Now I have developed Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis. I go to bed late 12 or 1 and get up early around 6. I talked with my doctors and they are trying to decide if the pain is keeping awake earlier or if the insomnia has worsened. Recently tried Lunesta and Sonata. The Lunesta didn't work and gave me a metallic taste that lasted in your mouth for days. The Sonata did not put me to sleep at all. So I am back to Ambien Cr. and just getting 5-6 hours sleep a day.

i may try some of your herbal suggestions.

Smalltown66

Logged

Lifting the weight of the world sure is easier with others with the same goal.

Thanks for the input guys.What is the diff between ambien and the CR version? Some sorta time release? Is that better?And I wanted to ask if taking sleeping pills like Ambien and the others, is it maybe best to stay on itlong term, and not switch on and off during the week? I wondered if that could be my problem withAmbien?

Except for maybe the last two, the others would seem to be an improvmentto "my" personallity. Im very predictable, so Strange behavior might make me more friends?Confusion. Well thats nothing new.More outgoing or aggressive behavior than normal. YES! Im tired of being pushed around in life.Agitation. Gets the blood flowing. More involved in life.Hallucinations. Now when has THAT been a negitive? And whos to say what is / is not real?